


First You See Him, Then You Hug

by ramcannedcheese



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Post-War, Uchiha Sasuke Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28881795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramcannedcheese/pseuds/ramcannedcheese
Summary: People react in a strange way when Sasuke returns to the village. They are all hugging him and he can't figure out why.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Kudos: 31





	First You See Him, Then You Hug

**Author's Note:**

> Just a cute idea that came to my mind and needed to get written. Was finished in about an hour or two and I only glanced over it once before posting. It was still fun to write nonetheless!

It started innocently enough. Sakura came into the hospital room he shared with Naruto, called him an idiot, and hugged him. This made sense, as she had connections to his past and considered him a friend even now. When Naruto hugged him later the same day, Sasuke wrote it off for the same reasons. The hugs, however, keep coming.

Sasuke couldn’t begin to understand it. After everything he’d done, he was ready to be ostracized and hated. And yes, there were those that glared at him, and yes, some people even called him out for his crimes, but this was all to be expected. It made the upcoming weeks all the more confusing.

Thinking back, he knew that Sakura and Naruto were the ones to start the trend, but he only began to notice the pattern when Kakashi gave him a hug. While he had been gone for the past few years he still remembered that his old sensei wasn’t one for physical displays of affection. When he came to give Sasuke a visit, however, he walked in and gave him a hug right away. Sasuke asked him why and got a rather vague answer before Kakashi changed the subject. Typical. 

Still, the occurrence stuck out to him, making the next instances all the more odd. Ino came to the hospital and practically tackled him to the ground. It was a day after Kakashi’s hug, but Sasuke excused it because Ino had a massive crush on him before he left. It became harder to write off when she stood back, gave him a pat on the cheek and started to gossip about her new boyfriend. 

Two days later Sasuke was walking through the village, having been cleared for light exercise by Sakura. Along the way he passed Shikamaru. Sasuke kept walking, as he didn’t know the other man well enough to even attempt small talk. Shikamaru had other plans. The Nara swerved to track him down, stood in front of Sasuke for a few seconds, heaved a big sigh then hugged him. Just as quickly as it had happened it was over and Shikamaru was gone with only a mumble of how troublesome everything was as a goodbye. 

The next day he crossed paths with Hinata while doing some shopping. She stopped and stammered something that sounded like a question before gently wrapping her arms around him. Then, before he could respond, she scampered away, a blush bright on her cheeks. Sasuke stood in the middle of the road watching her retreat, trying to puzzle out exactly what was going on. When no answers came to him Sasuke admitted defeat and tried to not let the growing number of strange interactions bother him. 

Within the week, Sasuke had been hugged by Naruto and Sakura over ten times each. He had been given a temporary apartment and each time they entered they gave him a hug before continuing on with whatever they wanted. The apartment building also housed a number of people he vaguely remembered, Neji being one of them. One night they crossed paths in the hallway. Neji walked over, glared at him, gave him a quick hug then stormed off like the entire situation irked him. Sasuke tried to shout after the other man but he only got a door slammed in his face in response. 

When on yet another shopping trip Sasuke almost collided with Lee. The taijutsu expert was walking on his hands through the market stalls, a shopping bag hanging from one of his feet. The moment he saw Sasuke, however, he flipped over, caught the shopping bag in mid-air and wrapped his arms around the Uchiha. Sasuke’s feet left the ground as Lee lifted him with ease. All the air left his lungs in a single grasp as Lee gave him a tight squeeze. There was some shouting about youth and something else about friendship but Sasuke missed most of the speech due to lack of oxygen making his head light. By the time he was put down and caught his breath Lee was jogging away having flashed a too bright smile, leaving Sasuke with even more questions than before. 

After two weeks of the hugs Sasuke began to grow paranoid. Everyone who stepped close to him was a risk, each person who Sasuke remembered from the past was viewed with suspicion. He was also, much to his horror, starting to get used to it. Sometimes he even opened his arms to accept, especially for Naruto and Sakura who were constantly hugging him now. There were also a few interactions that shed some light on the situation. 

Iruka actively hunted him down, holding him at arm's length for a moment to inspect him before smiling and pulling him into a hug. It was tight, the way family hugged their loved ones and Sasuke found himself returning it before he could think better. After a full minute Sasuke finally pulled away as the anxiety of having his back exposed got the better of him. His academy instructor didn’t go far, however, and they wound up sharing a meal together. It was then that Sasuke found out that someone had told Iruka to hug Sasuke when given the chance. The older man refused to say who, but Sasuke took what information he could get. It was more than he had before.

From there Sasuke continued to gather intel. Choji turned out to be a wealth of knowledge and his hugs were some of the best Sasuke had ever had. They were fully encompassing and made him feel safer than he had in years. While Choji hugged him the other man explained that Sasuke’s friends were wonderful people, that those close to him cared about him greatly. The hug ended when Choji was called away but he left Sasuke with the information that a close friend had been the one to put everyone up to the hugging. That eliminated a large majority of people, leaving Sakura and Naruto as possible suspects. 

He got his answer from the most unlikely source. Sai wasn’t someone that Sasuke ever had much contact with but he wasn’t surprised when the man gave him a fake smile and a stiff hug. It only lasted a few seconds before he was pulling away but Sasuke could tell they had both been wildly uncomfortable by the embrace. 

“Why did you hug me?” 

Sai responded with another fake smile, one that never reached his eyes. It was like looking at the face of a wax doll. “What do you mean?”

“You hugged me and you barely know me. Why?” Sasuke didn’t feel the need to mince his words, not after so many odd interactions with people. He wanted answers and he was going to get them. Luckily for him, Sai didn’t see a need to lie. 

“Dickless asked me to hug you when I saw you.” Without Naruto and Sakura around, Sasuke struggled to translate Sai’s meaning. 

“Dickless?”

“Naruto. I read him a section from one of my books about child trauma survivors sometimes needing physical affection to help heal. He then took the information and began to relay it to everyone who was close to you or might be close to you in the future. We were all told to hug on on sight to help you recover from past trauma.” Sai’s explanation was clinical but it made so much sense. After years of sticking his nose where it didn’t belong Naruto felt the need to once more butt in where he wasn’t invited. The rage that took over was almost a comfort to Sasuke and he let it push him into action. 

“I need to kill a man, excuse me.”

“Enjoy your day!” Sai gave him a wave and one last smile, even as Sasuke took off to track down Naruto. 

He didn’t have to hunt for long. After only a few minutes of searching Sasuke found Naruto at the ramen stand, eating his way through a large bowl of ramen. From the empty bowls on the counter Sasuke concluded that Naruto had been there for some time. 

“Naruto.”

“Hey Sasuke!” Predictably the blonde came over for a hug but Sasuke held out a hand to stop him. Naruto’s brows furrowed with confusion, as the dark haired man had never rejected a hug previously. “Um, you ok?”

Sasuke didn’t bother to hide his anger, the room grew cold from his fury. The ramen stand owners could be seen ducking under the counter and Naruto finally got wise and backed away. “Did you tell everyone you know to hug me whenever they saw me?”

“I- I mean- I might have?” Naruto continued to inch away, trying to sneak around Sasuke to escape but it was no use. He was cornered. 

A dark eyebrow twitched as Sasuke’s hand itched for his weapon. “And what if I didn’t want to be hugged?”

“But they all said that you didn’t mind! And Iruka even said that you hugged him back! And you started to smile after Sakura or I hugged you! Is it so bad to get a hug from your friends?”

“They’re not my friends.” Silence fell over the duo at Sasuke’s statement. To him it was fact but Naruto seemed to think differently. 

The blonde’s fear melted away but was immediately replaced with confusion. “What do you mean? Of course they’re your friends.”

“I don’t even know them.” Once again Naruto found a way to disagree with what felt like fact to Sasuke. 

“They’re still your friends! And you can get to know them, just like they want to get to know you.”

Sasuke felt his anger slip away. The vulnerability that had been slowly building for weeks finally came to ahead, causing Sasuke’s next words to be much more shaky than he originally intended. “How can you be so sure of that?”

The hug that Sasuke had held back was finally given, Naruto’s arms wrapped tightly around his friend. Sasuke rested his head on Naruto’s shoulder, feeling more unsure than ever before. “They told me. When I asked them for help all of them told me that they would be happy to; in their own ways that is. They are doing this because they want to and for no other reason.” 

“Why would they want to?” Sasuke’s world was off kilter, but Naruto’s arms grounded him to reality. The blonde was incapable of lying, whatever he said next would be the truth. 

“You’re someone that we all care about, even if some people aren’t so direct about it. We all felt it when you left and now that you’re back we want you to be happy. When Sai started telling me about different ways to help people who had trauma I knew I had to share that information, but everyone wanted to follow it for their own reasons.” As Naruto spoke he began to rub circles on Sasuke’s back. It was soothing but didn’t distract him from his confusion. 

“But what were their reasons? I just don’t understand why they would do this.”

“Wow, you really are thick sometimes. They care about you! Every single one of them cares about you so they all chose to help. A lot of them even came to talk to me afterwards about how you smiled or hugged them back or just seemed to be in a better mood once they hugged you. They like you, dumbass.” 

Sasuke tried to comprehend the feeling of being liked but it was just to foreign after so many years of being hated, and rightfully so. “I… not used to that.”

“Yeah well, get used to it because now that they all know that it just takes a hug to turn you into a sap they’ll never stop.” The grin could be heard in Naruto’s voice. 

“Naruto.”   


“Prepare to be hugged 24/7, year round!” Naruto hugged him tighter, laughter sneaking into his words. Sasuke felt a tic in his eye. 

“Naruto!”

“You’ll never go another day without a hug because they all know you secretly love them!” At this point Naruto picked him up and started swinging him around, his child-like glee almost infectious. Sasuke did his best to resist and even as he struggled out of the hold he couldn’t hold back the laugh that bubbled up. 

“Idiot!”

“It’s ok Sasuke, your secret’s safe with us!” 

They tumbled out of the ramen stand and onto the street, playing more than wrestling. Once their mock fight calmed, ending with a laugh, they both traveled deeper into the village. As the day came to an end the two men walked through the quiet streets, only stopping at Sasuke’s door. Naruto said his goodbyes and was turning to walk away when Sasuke was suddenly hit with an unknown urge. The day had been so strange but he had to admit that finally having an answer to his questions was reassuring. And knowing that it was Naruto who started it all only cemented the decision that Sasuke made. 

He moved forward, wrapped his arms around his friend from behind, gave Naruto a quick but tight squeeze then darted away. Before Naruto could get a word in, Sasuke dashed inside, slamming the door closed behind him. There was laughter coming from the other side of the door, but he pretended not to hear it.

As he got ready to go to bed he thought back on the last few months. After so long he had good friends who were supportive in their own odd way. He had a place to return to, even if his relationship with the village had been strained in the past. And for the first time in too many years, Sasuke finally had a reason to smile once more. He was cared for, he was loved, he was home.


End file.
